Defensive coordinator Dick Jauron had his weekly press conference with the media on Thursday. He talked about the previous week's effort against the Steelers and some tidbits about Arizona, including whether the team blitzed Ben Roethlisberger as much in the second half, what happened on the play near the end where Joe Haden slipped, the effectiveness of Beanie Wells as a runner, and more. [Read full press conference transcript here]
(On if they tried to pressure Ben Roethlisberger more after he returned)- "We blitzed. I don’t have the exact numbers, but probably as much as we blitzed in the first half. We’re not an overwhelmingly blitzing defense as it is, but we did. First of all, he’s not a runner. He can run, he’s capable of running, but he doesn’t run a lot. He’s very good in the pocket. I didn’t think he was going to be that less mobile or that less evasive. He can sidestep and he’s got great strength, shrugs off tacklers. When he was out there playing, I didn’t think there was going to be a whole lot of difference. If he had to run I don’t think he could’ve made a lot of yards down the field. That would’ve been the difference."
(On if Roethlisberger could have baiting the defense with over dramatizations to get them to blitz)- "Oh no, that never occurred to me. I thought he was really hurt just because of the nature of the hit. It looked like he got hit from two different angles and twisted. Quite honestly, I’d just not have him play, but you don’t want to see him get hurt badly. It looked like it could’ve been a serious deal."
(On what happened on the play when Joe Haden slipped and if it’s just one of those things)- "It was clearly one of those things where he fell down. That’s what happened. You can talk about all kinds of things, planting the up-field foot and all those things, but you fall down at times. He went up and challenged him. We had to at that point. He was doing all the right stuff. Jerome (Henderson) I think does a great job with the secondary. You practice footwork and you practice plant and drive, but it doesn’t always happen on gameday because very seldom is it perfect. He ended up slipping and falling. He was in good shape."
(On if there is a correlation between T.J. Ward’s absence and Joe Haden plateauing recently)- "No, I don’t."
(On how much Ward helps the defensive backs on the outside)- "You always want your starters. You want all your starters, but on a play like that it was single-safety high. You don’t have anybody directly over the top of him. He’s all by himself out there really. When it breaks down you’d like somebody to be able to get there and make a play. We know that receiver is hard to tackle in the open field. But, I don’t see any correlation there."
(On facing Beanie Wells and if their run defense is improving)- "I think that every week we’d like to believe we’re getting a little bit better in every area. A little bit wiser, know our people our little bit better, all those things. He’s really a good runner. He’s had some outstanding games as you well know. He’s a big powerful runner. We’ll be tested. We’ll be very tested because clearly he’s not alone out in the field. They have a lot of talent on that football team and number 11 on the outside. You’ve got to choose what you want to do. You want to play an eight man front and single him up, you want to try to get someone over the top of him most of the time. They present some issues for us."
(On what are the considerations are of putting Haden solo on Fitzgerald or if he would need consistent help)- "That’s an interesting way of asking if Joe is going to match him (joking). He might, Joe might match. You’ve got to change up coverages anyway to some degree. It’s down and distance oriented. Its pass-run oriented because you obviously only have so many players. He’ll be singled up at times."